Second-year student, Michael Neu, will be interning this summer in Washington D.C at the Sexual Assault Legal Institute (SALI). SALI provides direct legal services for victims and survivors of sexual assault. Neu will be working to help draft and develop public policy initiatives in Annapolis and Washington, D.C. focusing on sexual assault victims, including a bill to allow rape victims to ask the courts to limit the parental rights of rapists when a child is conceived through rape. He will also be working directly with clients to help them in any family law matters stemming from an assault.

SALI selected Neu from a national pool of law students who applied through the Equal Justice Works (EJW) Career Fair held annually in October in Arlington, VA. The EJW Conference and Career Fair is the largest national public interest legal career fair in the country. More than 1,200 students from 165 law schools attend for two days of interviews, workshops, networking and other career opportunities. Neu learned about the fair from Career Services. “I originally went in to meet with Assistant Dean for Career Services Ms. Beverly Bracker one day for help with my writing sample and I saw a flyer for the Equal Justice Works Fair. She encouraged me to apply. I did, and a few weeks later I found out that I was lucky enough to be selected for an interview with two organizations including SALI.” Neu attended the EJW Fair where he had his first interview. A few weeks later he had a phone interview with the rest of the office and was offered one of the two summer internships with SALI.

Michael made use of the resources in the Career Services office to assist him in preparing to attend the fair. “Career Services has been invaluable to me during these last few months. Not only did they help make it possible for me to attend the Equal Justice Works career fair, but Ms. Bracker also met with me several times to improve the look of my resume, helped me prepare for the interview, and gave me tips on how to navigate a large career fair such as EJW.”

This position is a great stepping stone for Neu in achieving his career goals. “I’m excited because working at SALI allows me to support clients on different scales - by sitting down and helping each one individually, as well as more broadly by aiming to reform public policy for the entire state.” Neu says it also will allow him valuable experience in a field he is passionate about. “I’ve always loved family law because it’s so unique and personal – it never gets boring and no two clients are alike. It’s extremely rewarding because sometimes the clients you help are the ones that are the most desperate; and when you consider those as vulnerable as victims of sexual assault, there really isn’t anyone more deserving of help than they are.”